Russia Says It’s in Touch with Israel and Palestinians, Wants to Help Solve Crisis 

This aerial photo show heavily damaged buildings following Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City on October 10, 2023. (AFP)
This aerial photo show heavily damaged buildings following Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City on October 10, 2023. (AFP)
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Russia Says It’s in Touch with Israel and Palestinians, Wants to Help Solve Crisis 

This aerial photo show heavily damaged buildings following Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City on October 10, 2023. (AFP)
This aerial photo show heavily damaged buildings following Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City on October 10, 2023. (AFP)

Russia said on Tuesday it was in contact with both Israel and the Palestinians and would seek to play a role in resolving the conflict between them.

Four days into the crisis that started with a deadly Hamas attack on Israel, the Kremlin did not present any concrete initiative but underlined the strength of its relations with both sides.

Moscow has long-standing historical ties with the Palestinians but also "a lot in common" with Israel, including the fact that many Israelis are former Russian citizens, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

"Therefore, we maintain relations with both sides of this conflict. We conduct contacts and take part in all the - unfortunately few - formats that are looking for common ground for a settlement and which do not work very effectively, as recent practice has shown," he said.

"But nevertheless we intend to keep making efforts and play our role in terms of providing assistance to seek ways to a settlement."

Israel was on Tuesday pounding Gaza with the fiercest air strikes in the 75-year history of its conflict with the Palestinians, in response to the wave of deadly Hamas attacks at the weekend. Moscow has said it is worried that the violence could escalate into a broader conflict in the Middle East.

Peskov said the Kremlin was trying to establish whether any Russians were among the hostages taken by Hamas.

"The necessary contacts are being made in order to understand whether this is true or not and what the future fate of these people is," he said.

Peskov said a suggestion by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that it was in Russia's interests to stoke war in the Middle East to weaken global unity had "absolutely no basis".

"This is a long-standing conflict, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which has very deep roots, many deep contradictions. Many people know the backstory, but it is so deep that not everyone knows the nuances," he said.



Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
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Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)

Israel’s military ordered the evacuation Saturday of a crowded part of Gaza designated as a humanitarian zone, saying it is planning an operation against Hamas militants in Khan Younis, including parts of Muwasi, a makeshift tent camp where thousands are seeking refuge.

The order comes in response to rocket fire that Israel says originates from the area. It's the second evacuation issued in a week in an area designated for Palestinians fleeing other parts of Gaza. Many Palestinians have been uprooted multiple times in search of safety during Israel's punishing air and ground campaign.

On Monday, after the evacuation order, multiple Israeli airstrikes hit around Khan Younis, killing at least 70 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, citing figures from Nasser Hospital.

The area is part of a 60-square-kilometer (roughly 20-square-mile) “humanitarian zone” to which Israel has been telling Palestinians to flee to throughout the war. Much of the area is blanketed with tent camps that lack sanitation and medical facilities and have limited access to aid, United Nations and humanitarian groups say. About 1.8 million Palestinians are sheltering there, according to Israel's estimates. That's more than half Gaza’s pre-war population of 2.3 million.

The war in Gaza has killed more than 39,100 Palestinians, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. The UN estimated in February that some 17,000 children in the territory are now unaccompanied, and the number is likely to have grown since.

The war began with an assault by Hamas fighters on southern Israel on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took about 250 hostages. About 115 are still in Gaza, about a third of them believed to be dead, according to Israeli authorities.